LAGATAR24 NETWORK
Ranchi, April 5: A trial court here framed charges against 11 in the case of violence which took place on June 10 last year leaving two dead in the Jharkhand capital.
Additional Judicial Commissioner (7) Vishal Srivastava of Ranchi Civil Court the framed charges. The charges have been framed against Md Afsar, Md Shahbaz, Md Usman, Tabarak Qureshi, Afsar, Armaan Hussain, Md Ramzan, Md Amjad, Md Maj, Md Sarfaraz and Md Irfan. All are in jail.
IPC sections under which the charges have been framed include 147, 148, 149, 120(B), 295(A), 153(AA), 153(A), 341,332,333,353,307,379,511,324,325 and 326 besides Prevention of Public Property Act and Section 27 of Arms Act. Following the framing of the charges, the trial will begin in the case.
Ranchi Circle officer Ashok Bhagat had registered an FIR in this regard at the Daily Market police station. The matter is under CID investigation.
On June 10 last year violence erupted after a few Muslims organised a protest march against the derogatory remarks of suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma regarding Prophet Mohammed.
The police had to open fire to control the violence. Two died in the firing. Several including police officials and protestors also sustained injuries. The incident threw normal life out of gear for a week and the administration had to work hard to bring normalcy.
A PIL was also filed in the matter in the Jharkhand High Court. Social activist Pankaj Yadav filed the PIL on June 17. The case was first heard on June 24 last year by a division bench of Chief Justice Dr Ravi Ranjan and Justice S.N.Prasad.
The high court asked the state government to explain how 10,000 individuals gathered in a public space. Aside from that, the court inquired about the number of people killed in the incident, as well as the number of rounds of bullets fired by the police. The court also asked whether or not other measures like tear gas and water cannon were used by the police. The court also inquired whether the police employed other tactics before resorting to firing, such as tear gas and water cannon. The state government is expected to file a reply by July 8 in the High Court.
Earlier on June 13, Governor Ramesh Bais summoned the Director General of Police, Additional Director General of Police (Operations), Ranchi Deputy Commissioner and Senior Superintendent of Police at Raj Bhavan and took detailed information about the incidents that took place in Ranchi on and after 10th June.
The Governor asked what information the administration had about the proposed event, picketing, demonstration, procession and what arrangements did it make.
He asked what inputs IB, CID and special branch had given and how many security personnel and magistrates were present during the procession. He asked what preventive action did the police take and why didn’t they use water cannons, rubber bullets and tear gas.
He asked why there was no provision of equipment and weapons required for preventive action and why police were not wearing helmets and protective gear. The governor asked about the number of arrests, and FIRs lodged and directed the police officials to find out details of all protestors and those who have been caught.
The Governor also asked them to make their names and addresses public and make their hoardings by displaying their photographs at main places in the city so that the public could also identify them and help the police. The Governor asked about the action taken against those spreading rumours on social media about the incident.
On June 25, the Crime Investigation Department (CID) was asked to probe the violence. IG (Human Rights) Akhilesh Kumar Jha directed the probe on getting instructions from the then DGP Neeraj Sinha.
